He wanted to touch her, and, despite the blood she’d so generously given to him—I can taste her. There’s a sweetness in my mouth—he wanted to sink his teeth into her delicate neck and drink.
Sabine wasn’t safe with him. She needed to be in another cell. Needed to be far away.
“Wyatt said that sometimes I’ll remember who I am. Sometimes I won’t. If I—if I die enough, he thinks I’ll totally lose myself . . .” He saw her throat move as she swallowed. “Wyatt said—”
“I don’t give a shit what he said!” Okay, maybe he shouldn’t have snarled the words. Her flinch had shame knifing in his gut.
And realizing that, dammit, he was naked, too.
Playing a new game, are you, Wyatt? What, now the guy wanted them to fuck?
Ryder sucked in a deep breath and tried to calm his fury. His gaze flew around the cell. Same room. Same inner pit of hell. But if he was back there, then that meant Wyatt and his cronies had retrieved Jim Thomas. If the guy was still at the facility, then maybe he could use him.
“I think Wyatt wants me to lose myself. To just become the—the phoenix.” Her shoulders were hunched.
“That’s not going to happen.”
Her gaze met his. “Yes, it is.”
She was so beautiful that she made him ache. Beautiful, strong, a creature of myth.
And Wyatt had stripped her and tossed her into a cage with a bloodthirsty monster. All for his twisted science.
Sabine’s voice was husky as she said, “Wyatt told me that I will die, again and again, and rise in the fire . . . rise until the only thing left is a monster that just kills and destroys everyone in its path.”
Wyatt was a talkative bastard, in addition to his million other sins. Heaving out a heavy breath, Ryder walked to her. The chains trailed behind him. He needed more blood in order to be strong enough to break those chains.
“I can’t pretend this isn’t happening. My life . . . everything’s changed.” She shivered and glanced at him. “And you know the worst part?”
Having a naked vampire standing over you, wanting a bite of you so badly his mouth is watering?
No, she didn’t realize how desperate he was becoming. Maybe he could play the caring role a bit longer. If he was lucky. If she was.
Her eyes squeezed closed. “I’ve been to hell.”
He didn’t speak.
“When I died, I-I remembered this time. The fire is so hot. It surrounds me. Burns and burns and burns and it has to be hell. I go to hell.”
He reached for her arms. Pulled Sabine up to her feet. “No, love, this cage we’re in, that’s hell. And, I swear to you, we will be free.”
She shook her head. “We tried, we—”
He kissed her. His lips brushed over hers, silencing the tangle of her words. He wanted to thrust his tongue deep, to sink into her, but if he pushed, he knew he wouldn’t be able to pull back.
With her, his control was too weak.
So he kept the kiss simple. A bare press of the lips. A soft caress against her mouth.
Just enough to give him a taste.
Just enough to have him hungering for so much more.
Then his head lifted. “Don’t be afraid.”
She stared back at him. Such big, dark, beautiful eyes. But then, he’d thought her eyes were beautiful even when they burned with red and gold flames. Sabine swiped her tongue over her full lower lip and confessed, “They wanted me to use my body to seduce you.”
Seducing me wouldn’t be hard. No way had she missed the big erection pointing toward her.
“They said that if you answered my questions, if I got you to tell me your secrets, that I’d be let go.”
He wanted her mouth again. Because he wanted it, he stepped back. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
But she shook her head. “They’re lying. All Wyatt can do is lie.” Her gaze met his. Her cheeks were flushed. “He’s not human. I shot him in the chest—” Breaking off, she spun to face the mirror. Her hands slapped against the glass. “I saw him get shot in the heart! His men must have seen it, too! He’s not human!” Now she was screaming.
He grabbed her shoulder. “Stop, he’ll come—”
She whirled and wrapped her arms around him. “I want him to come.” The rain of her hair covered her face as she turned her head toward him. “They only let me see you because I promised to seduce you. To learn your secrets.” She gave a quick shake of her head. “But I won’t betray you. I just wanted to help you. You helped me, you were the only one who did.”
“Sabine . . .”
“I knew that you’d need my blood.”
She’d come to save him?